Apparatus for and method of manufacturing semiconductor device

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for manufacturing a semiconductor device includes a chamber including a lower housing and an upper housing, heater chucks in the lower housing, shower heads on the heater chucks, the shower heads being between the lower housing and the upper housing, power supplies connected to the shower heads to provide radio-frequency powers to the shower heads, power straps in the upper housing to connect the shower heads to the power supplies, and shielding members in the upper housing, the shielding members enclosing the power straps and the shower heads, respectively, the shielding members to prevent electromagnetic interference of the radio-frequency powers between the power straps and between the shower heads.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

Korean Patent Application No. 10-2020-0155349, filed on Nov. 19, 2020 inthe Korean Intellectual Property Office, and entitled: “Apparatus forand Method of Manufacturing Semiconductor Device,” is incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND 1. Field

The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for and a method ofmanufacturing a semiconductor device. In particular, the presentdisclosure relates to an apparatus for forming a thin film on asubstrate, and a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device.

2. Description of the Related Art

In general, a semiconductor device is manufactured by multipleprocesses. For example, the multiple processes may include a thin-filmdeposition process, a lithography process, an etching process, etc. Forexample, the thin-film deposition process and the etching process may beperformed using plasma, which is used to treat a substrate at apredetermined temperature. For example, the plasma may be produced usinga high frequency power.

SUMMARY

According to an embodiment, a method of manufacturing a semiconductordevice may include placing a plurality of substrates in a chamber,supplying a reaction gas on the substrates, using shower heads, whichare provided in the chamber, and providing radio-frequency powers to theshower heads, without an electromagnetic interference between the showerheads using shielding members, which are provided in the chamber andenclosing the shower heads. The chamber may include a lower housing, andan upper housing, which is provided on the lower housing and the showerheads, and in which power straps connected to the shower heads areintroduced. The shielding members may include shower-head shieldingmembers enclosing the shower heads respectively, and strap shieldingmembers connected to the shower-head shielding members and enclosing thepower straps, respectively.

According to an embodiment, an apparatus for manufacturing asemiconductor device may include a chamber including a lower housing andan upper housing on the lower housing, a plurality of heater chucksdisposed in the lower housing, a plurality of shower heads provided onthe heater chucks and between the lower and upper housings, a pluralityof power supplying parts connected to the shower heads to provideradio-frequency powers to the shower heads, a plurality of power strapsdisposed in the upper housing to connect the shower heads to the powersupplying parts, and a plurality of shielding members disposed in theupper housing and enclosing the power straps and the shower headsrespectively to prevent electromagnetic interference of theradio-frequency powers between the power straps and between the showerheads.

According to an embodiment, a method of manufacturing a semiconductordevice may include placing a plurality of substrates in a chamber,supplying a reaction gas on the substrates, using shower heads, whichare provided in the chamber, and providing radio-frequency powers to theshower heads, without an electromagnetic interference issue between theshower heads using shielding members, which are provided in the chamberand enclosing the shower heads. The shielding members may includeshower-head shielding members enclosing the shower heads respectively,and strap shielding members enclosing power straps connected to theshower heads, respectively.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Features will become apparent to those of skill in the art by describingin detail exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings,in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic view of an apparatus for manufacturing asemiconductor device, according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the apparatus of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of an example of shielding members of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing a strength of electromagnetic interferenceversus a thickness of the shielding members of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the shielding members of FIG. 2 anda capacitor between the shielding members.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of an example of a capacitor of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of a method of manufacturing a semiconductordevice, according to an example embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of an apparatus 100 for manufacturing asemiconductor device. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the apparatus100.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the apparatus 100 may be a plasma-enhancedchemical vapor deposition (PECVD) apparatus. In an embodiment, theapparatus 100 may include a reaction gas supply 10, power supplies 20,matchers 30, and a chamber 40.

The reaction gas supply 10 may be connected to the chamber 40. Thereaction gas supply 10 may be configured to supply a reaction gas 12into the chamber 40. For example, the reaction gas 12 may include tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and/or oxygen (O₂), and may be used to form athin film (e.g., a silicon oxide (SiO₂) layer) on a substrate W. Inanother example, the reaction gas 12 may include silane (SiH₄) and/orammonia (NH₃), and may be used to form a thin film (e.g., a siliconnitride (SiN) layer) on the substrate W.

The power supplies may be connected to the chamber 40. The powersupplies 20 may provide radio-frequency (RF) powers 21 to the chamber40. The RF powers 21 may be used to produce plasma from the reaction gas12. The RF powers 21 may also be used to concentrate the reaction gas 12to a region on the substrate W, and in this case, the resulting film maybe formed to have an increased film density. The RF powers 21 may bealso used to increase reactivity of the reaction gas 12 to increase thefilm density of the resulting film. Each of the RF powers 21 may have afrequency of about 27.12 MHz. Each of the RF powers 21 may have a powerof about 1 KW to about 1000 KW.

The matchers 30 may be provided between and connected to the powersupplies 20 and the chamber 40, e.g., each matcher 30 may be between thechamber 40 and a corresponding power supply 20. The matchers 30 may berespectively connected to the power supplies 20 through first cables 22.The matchers 30 may also be connected to the chamber 40 through secondcables 32. Each of the first and second cables 22 and 32 may include acoaxial cable.

The matchers 30 may be configured to allow for impedance matchingbetween the power supplies 20 and the chamber 40. The matchers 30 may beconfigured to remove a reflected fraction of the RF powers 21, which isfed-back from the chamber 40, and thus, it may be possible to preventthe power supplies 20 from being damaged, and to improve the supplyingefficiency of the RF powers 21.

The chamber 40 may be configured to be able to load a plurality ofsubstrates W therein. For example, the chamber 40 may be configured toload about four substrates W therein. The chamber 40 may provide aclosed space, which is isolated from the outside, to the substrates W.In the chamber 40, a manufacturing process (e.g., a chemical vapordeposition process) using the reaction gas 12 and the RF power 21 may beperformed on the substrates W. The chamber 40 may be grounded. Thechamber 40 may be connected to a vacuum pump. For example, the chamber40 may have a low pressure of about 1×10⁻³ Torr to about 1×10⁻⁶ Torr bya pumping operation of the vacuum pump, during the manufacturingprocess.

In detail, referring to FIG. 2, the chamber 40 may include a lowerhousing 42 and an upper housing 44. The upper housing 44 may be stackedon top of the lower housing 42.

For example, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the lower housing 42 may have aquadrangular shape, and process zones 41 may be formed therein, e.g.,four process zones 41 may be arranged in a matrix pattern within thelower housing 42 (FIG. 1). For example, each of the process zones 41 maybe an opening, e.g., cavity, within the lower housing 42 to provide aregion for processing the substrate W, i.e., each substrate W may beprocessed in a corresponding process zone 41 of the lower housing 42.For example, the processing on the substrates W may include a thin-filmdeposition process, e.g., a PECVD process, an atomic layer deposition(ALD) process, etc. The process zones 41 may be separated from eachother by a partition wall 45, which is provided in the lower housing 42.In other words, the partition wall 45 may be provided between theprocess zones 41, e.g., the partition wall 45 may separate every twoadjacent process zones 41. The partition wall 45 may have a hole 47,e.g., the hole 47 may connect two adjacent process zones 41 through thepartition wall 45 to provide fluid communication therebetween.

As further illustrated in FIG. 2, heater chucks 50 may be provided inthe lower housing 42, respectively. For example, a heater chuck 50 maybe positioned in each process zone 41, so one substrate W may bepositioned above one heater chuck 50. When the substrates W are disposedin the chamber 40, the substrates W may be loaded onto the heater chucks50. The heater chucks 50 may be moveable in a vertical direction withinthe respective process zones 41, so the heater chucks 50 may be liftedup to a level higher than the holes 47, e.g., the heater chucks 50 maybe positioned above the holes 47 during processing. For example, duringprocessing, the heater chucks 50 may be configured to heat thesubstrates W to a temperature of about 100° C. to about 650° C. Thereaction gas 12 may be provided onto the substrates W to form thinfilms, respectively. If a process of forming the thin films is finished,the heater chucks 50 may be lowered to a level lower than the holes 47of the partition wall 45. If the lowering of the heater chucks 50 isfinished, the substrates W may be transferred from one of the heaterchucks 50 to another of the heater chucks 50 through the hole 47 of thepartition wall 45. Alternatively, the substrates W may be unloaded tothe outside of the chamber 40 through a slit valve, e.g., which may beformed in a sidewall of the chamber 40.

Shower heads 60 may be provided on the heater chucks 50, respectively.The shower heads 60 may be provided in upper cavities 49 of the lowerhousing 42 to hermetically seal upper portions of the process zones 41,e.g., a width of each shower head 60 may equal a width of acorresponding cavity 49 to completely fit in and seal the cavity 49. Theshower heads 60 may be connected to the reaction gas supply 10 and thematchers 30, so the shower heads 60 may be configured to uniformlysupply the reaction gas 12 onto the substrates W. The shower heads 60may produce plasma from the reaction gas 12 in the process zones 41,using the RF powers 21. The shower heads 60 may be spaced apart fromeach other by a horizontal distance D1, e.g., a distance of about 10 cm.

The upper housing 44 may be disposed on the lower housing 42 and theshower heads 60. The shower heads 60 may be provided between the upperhousing 44 and the lower housing 42. For example, as illustrated in FIG.2, top portions of the shower heads 60 may extend above the lowerhousing 42, so bottom portions of the shower heads 60 may be within thecavities 49 of the lower housing 42, and the top portions of the showerheads 60 extend into the upper housing 44.

The upper housing 44 may be grounded. The upper housing 44 may define amaintenance zone 43 on the process zones 41 of the lower housing 42. Themaintenance zone 43 may be a zone configured to protect the shower heads60 and/or is used to construct joint of lines. In an example embodiment,the upper housing 44 may have sockets 46. The sockets 46 may be providedon the maintenance zone 43. The sockets 46 may be connected to thematchers 30 through the second cables 32, respectively.

Power straps 48 may be provided in the upper housing 44. The powerstraps 48 may be introduced in the upper housing 44 to connect thesockets 46 to the shower heads 60. Each of the power straps 48 mayinclude a power strap and/or a power rod. The power straps 48 may beused to provide the RF powers 21 to the shower heads 60.

Shielding members 70 may be provided on the power straps 48 and theshower heads 60. The shielding members 70 may be provided to enclose theshower heads 60 and the power straps 48. The shielding members 70 may begrounded. The shielding members 70 may prevent or suppresselectromagnetic interference (e.g., parasitic capacitance or noise)between adjacent ones of the shower heads 60, and thus, it may bepossible to improve deposition uniformity between the process zones 41.In addition, the shielding members 70 may prevent the power straps 48from electromagnetically interfering with each other. In an exampleembodiment, the shielding members 70 may be formed of or include atleast one metallic material (e.g., iron (Fe) or copper (Cu)).

FIG. 3 illustrates a top view of the shielding members 70 of FIG. 2.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the shielding members 70 may includeshower-head shielding members 72 and strap shielding members 74. Forexample, as illustrated in FIG. 2, each shielding member 70 may includea shower-head shielding member 72 covering the top portion of the showerhead 60 in the upper housing 44, and a strap shielding member 74extending upward from the shower-head shielding member 72 to cover acorresponding strap 48. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 2, theshower-head shielding member 72 and the strap shielding member 74 areintegral with each other.

In detail, the shower-head shielding members 72 may cover top surfacesof the shower heads 60 in the upper housing 44, e.g., the shower-headshielding members 72 may contact a top surface of the lower housing 42to completely surround, e.g., overlap, the top and side surfaces ofcorresponding top portions of the shower heads 60 in the upper housing44. The shower heads 60 and the shower-head shielding members 72 may berespectively disposed at four different positions corresponding to fourvertices of a rectangle. The shower-head shielding members 72 may bespaced apart from each other. The shower-head shielding members 72 maybe grounded to prevent the electromagnetic interference between theshower heads 60. In an embodiment, the shower-head shielding members 72may have a cap shape and/or a cover shape, when viewed in a verticalsection. In addition, the shower-head shielding members 72 may have acircular ring shape, when viewed in a plan view.

The strap shielding members 74 may be disposed on an outer circumferencesurface of the power strap 48, e.g., interiors of the strap shieldingmembers 74 may be in fluid communication with interiors of shower-headshielding members 72. The strap shielding members 74 may be connected tothe shower-head shielding members 72, The strap shielding members 74 maybe connected to the shower-head shielding members 72. The strapshielding members 74 may be grounded. The strap shielding members 74 mayprevent or suppress electromagnetic interference between the powerstraps 48. Each of the power straps 48 may have a rectangular shape,when viewed in a plan view. When the power strap 48 has a rectangularshape in a planar view, the strap shielding members 74 may be shapedlike a rectangular and circular ring. For example, the strap shieldingmembers 74 may have a rectangular pipe shape or a circular pipe shape.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing a strength of electromagnetic interferenceversus a thickness T of the shielding members 70 of FIG. 2.

Referring to FIG. 4, the electromagnetic interference may be reduced tothe minimum value, when the shielding members 70 have a thickness T of 1mm or larger. In the case where the thickness T of the shielding members70 is reduced to a value of 1 mm or smaller, the electromagneticinterference may increase in an inversely proportional manner withrespect to the thickness T.

Referring back to FIG. 2, the thickness T of the shielding members 70may be smaller than half of the distance D1 between the shower heads 60.For example, in the case where the distance D1 between the shower heads60 is about 10 cm, the thickness T of the shielding members 70 may besmaller than about 5 cm.

FIG. 5 illustrates the shielding members 70 of FIG. 2 and a capacitor 80between the shielding members 70. FIG. 6 illustrates an example of thecapacitor 80 of FIG. 5.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, the apparatus 100 may further include thecapacitors 80. The capacitors 80 may be connected to the shower-headshielding members 72. The capacitors 80 may additionally prevent orsuppress a high frequency (e.g., RF) interference between theshower-head shielding members 72. The reaction gas supply 10, the powersupplies 20, the matchers 30, the chamber 40, the heater chucks 50, theshower heads 60, and the shielding members 70 may be configured to havesubstantially the same features as those in FIG. 2.

Referring to FIG. 6, the capacitors 80 may include short rangecapacitors 82 and long range capacitors 84. Each of the short rangecapacitors 82, e.g., near field capacitors, may be connected to a pairof the shower-head shielding members 72 which are adjacent to eachother, e.g., along a horizontal direction in a top view. In the casewhere the shower-head shielding members 72 are disposed at positionscorresponding to vertices of a rectangle, the short range capacitors 82may be formed along lines and/or sides of the rectangle. For example,the short range capacitors 82 may have capacitance ranging from about100 g to about 1 mF.

The long range capacitors 84, e.g., far field capacitors, may beprovided between the short range capacitors 82, e.g., along a diagonaldirection in a top view. In the case where the shower-head shieldingmembers 72 are placed at positions corresponding to vertices of arectangle, the long range capacitors 84 may be provided between andconnected to the shower-head shielding members 72, which are spacedapart from each other in a diagonal direction of the rectangle. The longrange capacitors 84 may have capacitance that is smaller than thecapacitance of the short range capacitors 82. For example, the longrange capacitors 84 may have capacitance ranging from about 10 g toabout 100 g.

The shower heads 60, the power straps 48, and the strap shieldingmembers 74 may be configured to have substantially the same features asthose in FIG. 3.

Hereinafter, a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device using theafore-described apparatus 100 will be described in more detail.

FIG. 7 illustrates a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device,according to an example embodiment.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2, and 7, the substrates W may be disposed in thechamber 40, e.g., using a robot arm (S10). The substrates W may beloaded on the heater chucks 50.

Next, the reaction gas supply 10 may be used to supply the reaction gas12 into the chamber 40 (S20). The shower heads 60 may provide thereaction gas 12 onto the substrates W. The reaction gas 12 provided ontothe substrates W may be used to form thin films (e.g., a silicon oxidelayer or a silicon nitride layer) on the substrates W.

Furthermore, the power supplies 20 may provide the RF powers 21 to theshower heads 60, without electromagnetic interference therebetween,using the shielding members 70 (S30). The shower heads 60 may excite thereaction gas 12 to a plasma state using the RF powers 21, and then mayprovide the reaction gas 12 of the plasma state to a region on thesubstrates W. The RF powers 21 may concentrate the reaction gas 12 ofthe plasma state in a region on the substrate W, and this may make itpossible to increase a film density of the resulting films. In addition,the RF powers 21 may increase reactivity of the reaction gas 12 andthereby further increase the film density of the thin film. Theshower-head shielding members 72 may cover the top and side surfaces ofthe shower heads 60, and in this case, it may be possible to prevent orsuppress electromagnetic interference between the shower heads 60, whenthe RF powers 21 are applied to the shower heads 60. The strap shieldingmembers 74 may be provided to enclose the power straps 48. The strapshielding members 74 may prevent or suppress electromagneticinterference (e.g., parasitic capacitance or noise) between the powerstraps 48.

By way of summation and review, an example embodiment provides anapparatus, which is configured to prevent an electromagneticinterference between shower heads in a process of manufacturing asemiconductor device, and a method of manufacturing a semiconductordevice. That is, in an apparatus for manufacturing a semiconductordevice according to an example embodiment, shielding members may beprovided to enclose shower heads, respectively, thereby preventing theshower heads from electromagnetically interfering with each other.

Example embodiments have been disclosed herein, and although specificterms are employed, they are used and are to be interpreted in a genericand descriptive sense only and not for purpose of limitation. In someinstances, as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art asof the filing of the present application, features, characteristics,and/or elements described in connection with a particular embodiment maybe used singly or in combination with features, characteristics, and/orelements described in connection with other embodiments unless otherwisespecifically indicated. Accordingly, it will be understood by those ofskill in the art that various changes in form and details may be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention asset forth in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device,the method comprising: placing substrates in a chamber, the chamberincluding shower heads enclosed in respective shielding members;supplying a reaction gas onto the substrates via the shower heads; andproviding radio-frequency powers to the shower heads without anelectromagnetic interference between the shower heads by using theshielding members, wherein the chamber further includes: a lowerhousing, and an upper housing on the lower housing and on the showerheads, power straps connected to the shower heads extending into theupper housing, and wherein the shielding members include: shower-headshielding members enclosing the shower heads respectively, and strapshielding members connected to the shower-head shielding members andenclosing the power straps, respectively.
 2. The method as claimed inclaim 1, wherein the shower-head shielding members are connected to eachother by capacitors.
 3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein: theshower-head shielding members are provided at positions corresponding tovertices of a rectangle, and the capacitors include: short rangecapacitors connecting the shower-head shielding members, which areprovided along sides of the rectangle, to each other; and long rangecapacitors provided between the short range capacitors, the long rangecapacitors connecting the shower-head shielding members, which arespaced apart from each other in a diagonal direction of the rectangle,to each other.
 4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the shortrange capacitors have capacitance larger than that of the long rangecapacitors.
 5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein providing theradio-frequency powers includes generating the radio-frequency powers bypower supplies, the power straps and the power supplies being connectedto cables.
 6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein each of thecables includes a coaxial cable.
 7. The method as claimed in claim 5,wherein the upper housing includes sockets connecting the power strapsto the cables, respectively, and the shielding members are providedbetween the sockets and the shower heads.
 8. An apparatus formanufacturing a semiconductor device, the apparatus comprising: achamber including a lower housing and an upper housing on the lowerhousing; heater chucks in the lower housing; shower heads on the heaterchucks, the shower heads being between the lower housing and the upperhousing; power supplies connected to the shower heads, the powersupplies to provide radio-frequency powers to the shower heads; powerstraps in the upper housing, the power straps connecting the showerheads to the power supplies; and shielding members in the upper housing,the shielding members enclosing the power straps and the shower heads,respectively, the shielding members to prevent electromagneticinterference of the radio-frequency powers between the power straps andbetween the shower heads.
 9. The apparatus as claimed in claim 8,wherein the shielding members include: shower-head shielding membersenclosing the shower heads, respectively; and strap shielding membersenclosing the power straps, respectively.
 10. The apparatus as claimedin claim 9, wherein the shower-head shielding members have a cap shapeor a cover shape.
 11. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein thestrap shielding members have a rectangular pipe shape.
 12. The apparatusas claimed in claim 9, wherein the shower-head shielding members have acircular ring-shaped cross-section, in a top view, and the strapshielding members have a rectangular cross-section, in the top view. 13.The apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the shower-head shieldingmembers are connected to each other by capacitors.
 14. The apparatus asclaimed in claim 8, wherein the shielding members include copper oriron.
 15. The apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein each of theshielding members has a thickness of 1 mm or larger.
 16. The apparatusas claimed in claim 15, wherein the thickness of each of the shieldingmembers is smaller than 5 cm.
 17. The apparatus as claimed in claim 8,wherein the shielding members are grounded.
 18. A method ofmanufacturing a semiconductor device, the method comprising: placingsubstrates in a chamber, the chamber including shower heads enclosed inrespective shielding members; supplying a reaction gas onto thesubstrates via the shower heads; and providing radio-frequency powers tothe shower heads, without an electromagnetic interference between theshower heads, by using the shielding members, wherein the shieldingmembers include shower-head shielding members enclosing the showerheads, respectively, and strap shielding members enclosing power strapsconnected to the shower heads, respectively.
 19. The method as claimedin claim 18, wherein the chamber includes: a lower housing; and an upperhousing on the lower housing, the shielding members being in the upperhousing.
 20. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the shower headsare between the lower housing and the upper housing.